SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed to Illinois Review that twelve-year-old children could now be getting Gardasil vaccine shots without their parents' knowledge or permission.
A new administrative rule set into place in late June (see below) added vaccinations to the medical care and counseling children ages 12 and up may give themselves permission to receive if they think they've been in contact with a sexually-transmitted infection (STI):
Parents are raising three key objections to the rule change
1. The age of consent in Illinois is 17 years old. If any child as young as 12 is concerned that they may have come into contact with an STI, then a crime has been committed.
The older partner commits criminal sexual abuse if he or she commits an act of sexual penetration or sexual conduct with a victim younger than 17 years of age and the accused was less than 5 years older than the victim. This charge is raised to criminal aggravated sexual abuse if the perpetrator is more than five years older than the victim.
There are no "close in age" exemptions or "Romeo and Juliet laws" to Illinois' age of consent. This means that anyone that engages in sexual activity with someone under the age of consent in Illinois is liable for prosecution, including people only a few years older then their sexual partner and even two individuals who are both under the age of consent.
2. Gardasil can have health-endangering side effects. The vaccine most commonly associated with STIs is Gardasil, a vaccine to ward off four strings of the human papillomavirus.
There are about 30 to 40 types of HPV that can affect the genital area. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are about 6 million new cases of genital HPV infections in the United States each year. An estimated 74% of them occur in 15 to 24 year olds.
Merck & Co., the producer of Gardasil, says for most people HPV clears up on its own. But, for others who don't clear certain types, HPV could cause significant consequences: cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers in females. Other types could cause genital warts in both males and females.
Gardasil is known to have serious to mild side effects including seizures, strokes, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, headaches, stomach pains, vomiting, muscle pain and weakness, joint pain, auto-immune problems, chest pains, hair loss, appetite loss, personality changes, insomnia, as well as menstrual cycle changes, fainting, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, nausea, temporary vision/hearing loss.
News sources have reported the deaths of nearly 50 young women as the result of the Gardasil 3-series shots.
Despite legislative efforts a few years ago to mandate the vaccine for those 11 years and older, Gardasil is not required for school attendance in Illinois.
3. Parents are not being notified about this rule change. Parents are not being told by schools or the state that their children can have this medical care without their parents' knowledge or consent, and federal HIPAA laws will keep parents from ever finding out exactly how their underage children are being treated concerning STIs.
Most parents are aware that school nurses can't administer aspirins or pain killers without a parents' consent, but parents are not made aware that Illinois law now allows their children to receive medical care, counseling or vaccinations without any notification - and parents are actually restricted from accessing the information about their children.
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